Happy Halloween!!

Hi everyone.  I have just not had a minute to write a new post for the AYW blog and I am so sorry!  I just hope you are all ok.

Continuing with the story theme, the last session (22nd October) saw us looking at way to build a plot.  The idea that an IDEA plus a CHARACTER can create a plot was explored, with the Young Writers creating a "plot sheet" with characters on one side and situations on the other which could then be linked together by a line drawn between them - and the assignment was then to produce a story from those various "ingredients".  This is based on a "Plot Book" I created some years ago for my own use which followed the same principal - and it is in fact a wholly effective way to get the creative juices flowing!

I have promised the Young Writers that I will try to bring a dummy copy of Word Magic 2 in to the next session (this Saturday 5th November).  The layout is almost finished now and it would be great to get their reactions so I will do my best - even if it is not the whole book.  It has actually proved quite a challenge this time, trying to give everyone's work equal exposure but I must say I am pretty happy with what I have managed to do so far.

So will sign off for now but look forward to seeing you all on Saturday.

"All About Me" ...

Very good session on 24th September.  We touched on something we have not covered before (yes - there are still a few things yet to explore) and that was Autobiography, Biography and Memoirs.  I explained the difference between the three - autobiography being about the life of the person writing, biography being about the life of someone else and memoirs being odd little memories that just come back to us once in a while.  I also explained that not only famous people are covered by these, but many ordinary people as well, who want to share with future generations something they have experienced, but don't necessarily want to tell the story of their whole life.

We all love writing and talking about ourselves and each and every one of us has unique experiences to our name so I got the members writing something about themselves, initially.  The assignment set was to write a biography of someone they know - a family member, friend or even a pet or toy - and I was only looking at a maximum of one page so it shouldn't be too taxing for them.  Any brought in for marking will count towards their next certificate.

We had ten children turn up which is brilliant and looking forward to seeing everyone this Saturday, 8th October.

Still working on the new Word Magic book, doing some whenever I get the opportunity and it is starting to take shape nicely.  I will let you see the dummy copy when it is ready.

And please let me know of any school fetes, fayres or bazaars coming up so I can sell copies of my books - or if you want extra copies of my book "My Writer" for Christmas presents, please let me know.

See you Saturday, then.